Quitans - A Study of a Typical Galacian village


Quintans is typical of the numerous villages we cycled through – small, quaint, interesting, a real mix of the old and the new, and seeming to doubt if it had a reason to exist in future.

There were really old skeletons of houses hundreds of years old, old houses built of stone and still occupied, new modern houses, large modern feeding barns for dairy cows, large maize silage stacks, modern and large farm equipment and hand carts. The missing element that was most disconcerting was the lack of children. We saw very few. There were lots and lots of elderly sipping their espressos and smoking but very few young families.

The countryside is rolling hills clad in forest – pines, eucalypts, cedar and native species  - and green productive valleys. They don’t lack rain but they do seem to lack fertiliser. The maize crops looked malnourished and the pasture was disastrous. But it was all green. There are lots of granite rocks and outcrops - hence the stone houses - which makes farming hard. It looks a hard place to make a living so I am sure the regional development plan for religious tourism put in place many centuries ago has been a critical part of the regions survival.



A mix of the old and the very old, right opposite the pension

The pension where we stayed in Quintans


The biggest house in the village

Like a number of houses/buildings in Spain, building or renovations partly done then abandoned.

New and very tidy

Like the paint job


A large feeding barn with plenty of large modern machinery , an integral part of the village



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Atlas Mountains and Desert in Morocco

Image
Inland Morocco As we left Chefchaueon we headed into the various ranges of the Atlas mountains. The most surprising aspect of this transition was the green and productive valleys  running through the yellow-brown and red-brown eroding hills. Berbers 60% of Moroccans are Berber. they are a first nation people who have originally been nomadic herders. Some still keep to that lifestyle. Others have settled into farming the fertile valleys. Others are moving to the cities for education and jobs. Schooling is gradually coming to the remoter areas and even to the nomads, although only 3 years of education is compulsory at this stage Morocco - Photographing People A common belief amongst the Moroccans, particularly the village Berber people is that if you take their photo it steals their soul. Our guide, who was a Berber, stressed that we should not take photos without asking permission. In several cases, particularly with older villagers, he would not even ask....
Read more

Casablanca

Image
Morocco A country of 42 million people, Morocco is a very progressive Sunni Moslem country ruled by a constitutional monarch. The King is hereditary but some of the government is elected. The King appoints the ministers in charge of the key ministries. While the Moslem style of dress is very evident, a wide variety of dress is quite acceptable although woman should generally keep their shoulders, midriff and knees covered and men wear long trousers.  Women are free to work, mix with men etc, although old habits change slowly in the countryside and small villages. 60% of the population is under 20, so population growth will be an issue for some years yet! There are large areas of fertile and very productive land that receives good and reliable winter and spring rain. Crops like barley, wheat, chick peas, oranges and olives are widely grown. Some areas even grow grapes and produce wine – strange in a Moslem country. The climate is quite temperate along the Atlant...
Read more

Northern Morocco

Image
From Casablanca we travelled north to Rabat, Meknes, Volibulis, Chefchaouen and then back to Fes. The main towns had centuries of history - Rabat was a trading port used by the Pheonicians in the 300's BC, Mouyard Issidra was started in 860's, Meknes has parts of the town dating from 1100's, 1400's and 1700's and Vulubilis was built by the Romans in 200's AD. The countryside was impressive. Reasonably dry near the coast but  large areas of rolling fertile land growing wheat, barley, sunflower, olives, oranges with areas of forestry on the ranges. No wonder the Romans used it as a grain growing area to feed Rome. Trader in the Medina selling nuts, lentils, beans and dried fruit. Add caption The old part of Meknes - built in 11th century. the satellite dishes tell the story of the old and the new. In the old Medina in Fes, their are 9000 alleys. (The joke the guides tell is they lost someone last year and they are still searchin...
Read more